Innovations in information and communication technologies are incessant. Firms are increasingly turning to the Internet and related information technologies to improve business efficiency and service quality, and to attract new customers.
The use of the Internet in the conduct of business is growing at a rapid pace.
Technological development, particularly in the area of telecommunications and information technology, is revolutionizing the banking industry. With the development of this technology, electronic commerce is seen to hold a promise of new revolution. Literature review shows that much research was undertaken to study the development of electronic banking (e-banking) and its operations (Liao and Cheung, 2002; Agarwal et al., 2009; and Lee, 2009). It is widely believed that the impact of e-commerce enables banks to provide an inexpensive and direct way of exchanging information and to sell or buy products and services.
Internet technology is rapidly changing the way personal financial services are designed and delivered. Hence, banks have found themselves at the forefront of technology adoption for the past three decades. Banks began to look at e-banking as a means to replace some of their traditional branch functions. Although e-banking systems provide us with easy access to banking services, it has introduced new business challenges.
e-banking is the use of computer technology to give the option of bypassing the time-consuming, paper-based aspects of traditional banking. It is in fact, a generic title that has been used by banks and their corporate customers for some 20 years. Whilst the packages differ, in its most basic form, it is a method of retrieving balance and statement information from your bankers via your desktop PC, along with the ability to generate payments, both domestic and international, from the same source. The Internet is being offered as an alternative in many cases, but surprisingly the service is sometimes restricted, and a majority of business and corporate customers receiving electronic information from their bank still use a direct connection with the bank. There are several major challenges and issues facing the e-banking industry today. First and perhaps most important is the security concern. Customers are certainly concerned about giving their bank account number online or paying an invoice through the Internet. Another challenge facing e-banking industry and the e-business in general is the quality of delivery service, including delivery speed (i.e., short advance time required in ordering), and delivery reliability (i.e., delivery of items/services on time), which caused many e-business failures in the earlier dot.com era. Limited online payment options have resulted in many customers’ dropping out in the last stage of the purchasing process due to dissatisfaction and inconvenience. Finally, the issue of customer unfamiliarity with the Internet, which is prominent among senior citizens, has recently caught some attention because these customers believe that they are left at a disadvantageous position and become very reluctant to transact business online.
|
